9 months ago
128 Micah Richards has now been discussing an incident he saw during Liverpool’s remarkable win over Chelsea at Wembley yesterday.
Jurgen Klopp watched his makeshift side produce a special result, one that underlined everything that’s been so good about his era at the club.
At the end of the match, Klopp had a team full of inexperienced youngsters, being helped home by some stalwarts of his illustrious tenure.
And whilst the likes of Caoimhin Kelleher and Virgil van Dijk were perhaps the standouts, there were plenty of displays to enjoy.
But when watching the game, Micah Richards was particularly impressed by Van Dijk, who he thought had done remarkably well to recover from a serious injury.
Richards was talking on ‘The Rest Is Football’ podcast after the game and was amazed at level the centre-back was still maintaining.
And when praising his performance, Richards also recalled a moment when Van Djik was bellowing commands at his own Liverpool teammates yesterday, making sure standards never dropped against Chelsea.
Micah Richards amazed by Virgil van Dijk’s leadership in Liverpool’s win over Chelsea
Speaking on the podcast, Richards said Van Dijk was one of the best centre-backs in history.
He said: “What is so good about Van Dijk is last season he was coming off the back of a bad injury and a lot of people were saying his best days were behind him.
“I have had knee injuries and it takes a long time to recover. He is back into his flow, he admitted by his own standards that he dropped a little bit, but not at the level people were talking about.
“For a centre-half it’s not just about his blocks or reading of the game, it’s how much he can command the people around you.
“When he has youngsters in front of him, I see him at one bit of the game, growling like a lion, like get back in position and do your job, and to have a leader like that behind you is just inspirational.
“He’s certainly one of the best centre-backs the Premier League have ever seen.”
Of course, it’s hard to argue with the merits of Richard’s words, given Van Dijk was ultimately the difference between Liverpool and Chelsea yesterday.
And whilst Jurgen Klopp deserves praise for his place in Liverpool history, so does his captain.
All that considered, one Liverpool player perhaps proved he is the most underrated player at the club yesterday.
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